Flygon all the way, I love that bug guy. Their design perfectly rides the line of simplicity while feeling really unique.

I'm obsessed with Pokemon, love Warhammer lore but not the game, and MTG. MTG is dangerous, I love it but I don't play anymore.

Sure, but does that mean I just stick it on Itch? Just drop links randomly? Advertise in some way? Currently it's just vibing in my Google Drive haha

As someone who works in tech, it's clear that 1) no one understands what it can do 2) everybody is worried their dip shit boss will think it's good enough to replace them and 3) every dipshit boss is worried it will replace their company.

Just gotta say I'm super interested in this idea, I've been trying to find the sweet spot myself with my own system I'm working on. So many systems reduce Pokemon down to attack dice and typing which feels like a missed opportunity.

Also the dice pips could be circles, but not full Pokeball shapes

One thing to make your design more cohesive is to make line thicknesses and spacing consistent between design elements! You can see that the lines that make up the Pikachu are significantly thinner than those on the dice which makes it feel like it's coming from a different source.

This approach was recommended to me by one of the helpful denizens of the PTA Discord server who had been thinking in a similar direction, and I really like it for establishing a real relationship before something joining your Pokemon team

So battling is just one of many conditions that grow your relationship with a wild Pokemon, and you're most likely to catch it if you got to know it and spent some time together first! Instead of just showing up out of the blue and smacking it in the face with a Pokeball

I fixed(?) this by changing the conditions that give you catching bonuses. My new catching move "Join The Team" gives +1 to your roll for each of: you shared a meal, you helped them out, you worked together to accomplish something, you taught them something, you had a fair contest or battle

I could run the numbers on that! I'm worried it's more of an early game/late game problem. Characters having a solid +2 roll isn't an issue, but having a semi-persistent +3 or +4 feels like it could swing the balance. Maybe that imbalance would be part of the fun though.

Downside is that you will have some stats/actions as a player that it's not useful for a Pokemon to help you with, since you're already good at it. I haven't thought of a perfect system that balances the appeal of getting help with avoiding characters min/maxing to get +4 rolls on their highest stat

and that helps decide the strengths and drawbacks of their effect. All of those combined have so far created a strong narrative system for letting Pokemon impact all areas of play in creative ways.

a jolt of Pikachu's electricity. Smash a door open with pure strength of a Graveler. Phase through a wall as a Haunter. As long as the table agrees it's something that makes sense for the Pokemon to do, they can do it. The only constraint is you can pick 2 of strong, precise, sustained or silent...

...this is the main mechanic for them doing that. They can help you persuade, find books in a library, give you a boost jumping over a fence, anything a trainer can do they can help with.

3) They can Tame the Stage : spend a vigor to tangibly effect the environment. Short circuit a camera with...

or creating an advantage for future rolls.

2) Pokemon and trainers have the same 6 stats and at any point you can roll with the Pokemons stats instead of yours by spending 1 vigor/health from them. Overuse this and they won't last long in battle! I wanted Pokemon to impact all areas of play and...